膨 (péng): to swell

Meanings

1 to swell
2 to expand
3 swollen

Characters

膨

péng

to swell; to expand

Examples

HSK 4

气球越吹越膨。

Qìqiú yuè chuī yuè péng.

The balloon swells the more you blow.

HSK 7-9

面团发酵后会膨起来。

Miàntuán fājiào hòu huì péng qǐlái.

Dough swells up after fermenting.

Tips

usage

膨 rarely stands alone in modern Chinese - it almost always pairs into 膨胀 ('to expand/inflate', literal and economic) or 膨大 ('to bulge'). Learn the compounds first; the bare character mostly appears in technical or older writing.

memory

The radical 月 (here standing for 肉, 'flesh') hints at the original sense - flesh that is 'puffed up'. Compare 胀 (also a flesh-radical char) which is its frequent partner in 膨胀.

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

flesh; meat (radical form of 肉)

Left-side meat radical - the side form of 肉, visually identical to 月 (moon) but historically a slab of striated flesh. Carries the meaning here: 膨 originally described the body distending - a swollen belly, bloated tissue - before extending to any expansion.

phonetic

彭 péng

Peng (surname); drum sound

Right side 彭 supplies the sound - péng stays péng with no shift. 彭 itself once depicted a beaten drum with sound rays flying off, and that sense of resonant bulging echoes the swelling meaning. Same phonetic family: 澎 (in 澎湃 surging waves), 蓬 leafy and abundant.